Retailers and retail landlords who watched Save our Shops on the BBC Money Programme last month would have seen at first hand the impact of vanishing footfall on the high street. When people say retail success boils down to "location, location, location", what they mean is that without shoppers you cannot make money. All retail is about getting someone to spend money with you and to buy stuff from you at a price greater than your cost in buying it and putting it on display. The interesting twist in the SOS programme was its demonstration of the death of high streets around the UK. Local retailers and landlords need to work hard to ensure that people want to visit their shops and properties. In big retail parks, video surveillance is used to monitor where people go and what they do. In many high streets, local retailers fail to even look outside and count how many shoppers are passing by. For high streets, the programme shows, collaboration may be the only answer to create the excitement and interest to win back shoppers. Too many retailers may be taking today's shoppers for granted. Don't!
True in part to my New Year resolution, I held a business meeting in an independent coffee shop today just next door to a Starbucks. The cafe was presented well and four staff were busy preparing for the lunchtime rush, at 11am. As my guests were late, I had a half hour overview of footfall on the street outside and in the restaurant. Six customers. Barely enough to form the queue in Starbucks or Pret-a-Manger just down the road. Plus one Italian girl who dropped off her CV. Some people stopped to look at the posters in the window and moved on. The owners seemed quite happy. When I left just after 1215, they were doing brisk trade. However, I have the impression that the business is not working hard enough. It could easily have managed 120 customers between 11 and 12, instead of 12. This is lost profit as the fixed overheads and staff costs are already in place. The owners are clearly busy - perhaps too busy to take time to look at the potential that their cafe has. What shou...
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